Thursday, July 3, 2014 - Mason County Journal - Page A-19
Journal photo by Gordon Weeks
Painter Robert Kamin, a sixth-generation Mason County resident, leads a painting class Monday at the Alderbrook Resort & Spa in Union.
He recently founded the group The Hood's Canal Artist Haven to promote fine art training in Mason County.
A haven for county artists
Union painter offers three-day
workshops at Alderbrook
By GORDON WEEKS
gordon@masoncoun com
Art museum excursions inspired Robert Ka-
rain's love for realistic yet romantic landscape
paintings in the Hudson River School style.
The Union painter is passing along those
skills in his drawing and painting classes at
the Alderbrook Resort & Spa and the Alder-
brook Golf & Country Club. Starting next
month, his newly formed The Hood's Canal
Artist Haven is offering three-day art work-
shops at the Alderbrook Resort & Spa.
Kamin is a sixth-generation Mason County
resident who grew up in the Skokomish Val-
ley. He graduated from Shelton High School
in 1999, and studied English at Saint Martin's
College. He earned his teaching certification
from Seattle Pacific University.
Kamin said that after he got married in
2004, he started touring art museums and was
inspired by the works. He studied drawing and
painting at the GAGE Academy of Art in Seattle.
Kamin says he fell in love with the style of
the Hudson River School, a mid-19th century
American art movement embodied by a group
of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision
was influenced by romanticism. The Hudson
River School landscapes are characterized by
their realistic and detailed portrayals of na-
ture.
see ARTIST, page A-28
BUSINESS BRIEFS
What's the buzz? Come see bee sanctuary speaker
I spent a half-hour in
my garden picking those
delicious knobby-juicy-red
and succulent raspber-
ries just before start-
ing this article. It was
very relaxing. This
was my first picking
of the year and I can
tell I haven't watered
them enough, so the
sprinkler is going. I
find it amazing that in
February and March I
weed them pretty well
and now those young
big leaf maples are taller than
my raspberries. I'm going to
have to spend more time in the
berry patch.
The Harstine Island Garden
Club will revert to evening
meetings starting with its July
10 meeting. The meeting will
By MIKE
CALLAGHAN
start at 7 p.m. The club's guest
speaker will be Heather Wood
from the Urban Evergreen
Bee Sanctuary?The
501(c)(3) nonprofit's
goal is to see a bee
hive in every gar-
den. They build the
hives and distribute
them to those who
want one. They
started with a small
grant and use sus-
tainable wood for
their basic materials,
which costs about
$70. There is no charge for
a hive, but they do ask for
donations. Come and hear
about their project and you,
too, might want a home for our
endangered bees. You can find
Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctu-
ary on Facebook.
Oh, that senior lunch group
-- they don't let this beautiful
summer weather stop them
from cooking. On July 9, they
will be serving pulled pork
sandwiches, coleslaw, baked
beans and sherbet. Then on
July 23, they will be cooking
a taco lasagna with a green
salad and bar cookies. They
serve food at noon, but get
there early because they usu-
ally have about 100 people
for lunch. All who are ages 50
and older and their guests are
welcome. A $3 donation for
this fabulous lunch would be
nice.
A couple of pinochle groups
play each week at the com-
munity hall. They are always
looking for new players. The
group that usually meets on
the first and third Saturday of
the month will not meet July 5.
The Harstine Island
Theatre Club is presenting
"A Slice of Harstine Island
Theatre Club." To celebrate
the 100th anniversary of the
community hall and the 30th
anniversary of the theater
club, the show is a collection
of snippets, both live and
video, from previous produc-
tions. Included will be a John
Cooper radio play and a "Gus
and Mavis" skit written by
Pat Dunlap. The group will be
paying tribute to Shirl Conway
Larson and other founders of
the club. Long-time members
Fred Burgdorf and Vikki Voss
are organizing the produc-
tion. Performances will be at
7:30 p.m. on July 5 and 3 p.m.
on July 6. On both days, the
doors will open an hour before
curtain and attendees will be
able to purchase beer, wine
and soft drinks before the play.
Tickets are $7 and available at
Olympic Bakery, Fresh Start
Market & Deli and Sage Book
Store.
If you haven't been to our
farmers market, you need to
get there because there are
just some great vendors. Here
are three more:
Michelle Mott-Azzola and
Randy Azzola of Sky Moon
Nursery have lived on the is-
land for 19 years. They have
been selling at the market for
three years and they try to be
there every Saturday. They
sell mainly plants to beautify
your home and plants that you
can grow to eat.
see HARSTINE, page A-24
